Chapter 54: A town with a radical history

My master and I parked the car in front of the town government.

In fact, the so-called government does not have much deterrent power in such a town with a fierce folk custom that does not blend in with the world, but it is more or less in a state of non-interference, so it is more than appropriate to park the car in such a place.

Of course, this kind of help is not free, and it is inevitable to spend some money to grease the wheels. After all, it is too important for me and my master now, and we will have to rely on it when we finally get to the Snow Mountain Wilderness.

After all this, it was already nighttime, and it was obviously unrealistic to go up the mountain at this time. We wanted to stay overnight in this simple government building, but unfortunately no one else agreed, because except for an old janitor, all the other staff had left.

Later, we learned that the government here is only the government of the nearest town, which occasionally comes to manage the place. This extremely remote town is basically self-governing, and they dare not let us stay because the local people are fierce. If anything happens, don’t let it happen in this office building.

My master and I were helpless. In fact, in my impression, the Miao people are divided into two extremes. One is like the people in the Yueyan Miao village, gentle and kind, and the other is the people in the Heiyan Miao village, whose folk customs are indeed fierce, xenophobic, and even cold-blooded.

But no matter what kind of Miao people they are, I actually feel that they have a relatively “radical” protection of their own culture. They want to integrate, but more importantly, they want to protect the inheritance of their culture from being changed by this integration.

In fact, I sometimes think this kind of extreme protection is good, because our Chinese culture also has a long history.

In the end, my master and I did not venture into the village, and we stayed at the gatehouse, begging to stay.

That night, with a pot of wine, two packs of cigarettes, and a few bags of peanuts, we chatted with the doorman, preparing to survive the long night. After all, this small guard post was unable to sleep.

Master has a natural ability to communicate with people, but unlike me, he always keeps his distance from people at first, afraid of getting emotionally involved. So, he quickly became friends with the doorman and started chatting about everything under the sun.

The doorman is a Han Chinese. After drinking, the most he talked about with the master was that he had worked here for many years, and everyone in the town looked familiar, but he didn’t know their names.

The reason is that the people in this town don’t like to talk to Han people, and he has never been able to integrate into this town.

So xenophobic? I was a little surprised… even though I didn’t feel that the Miao village was that xenophobic.

“That’s just the way it is. I was born in the countryside, and I was lucky to get a government job. I wasn’t always the gatekeeper, I retired, but I couldn’t stand sitting around. So you think I don’t have any feelings for this place? Well, I did work here from time to time before I became the gatekeeper. I’m sorry, but the people here never accepted us. It’s like we’re living in our own little world. It’s funny… I’ve been here for so many years, and the same pack of cigarettes that people in this town buy at the store for 5 yuan, I have to pay 10 yuan for it… It’s a rip-off. But what can I do if I don’t buy it? They still want to sell it.” After two glasses of wine, the old man was a little excited, and as he talked, he even started to sound a little like a native of the northeast.

This made me feel very close to him, and I remembered everything that happened that year in the deep forest. Wu Laogui was humorous and timid, but he never failed to deliver when it mattered. Old Zhang was honest and reliable, and the magical stick, the snowy forest, and the girl I had always dreamed of were all there.

Thinking of Ru Xue, my heart ached inexplicably. This kind of pain now accompanies my soul every time, and it makes me suddenly sluggish, but I have also learned to hide it. I just shook my hand holding the peanuts, and there was no change in my expression.

This is a cover-up that even the master can’t see. He’s still talking to the doorman, “10 yuan is a rip-off. Isn’t that twice as expensive?”

This friendly northeastern accent made me a little less guarded towards the doorman, no, I should say, towards any stranger. A natural smile appeared on my face, and I poured a glass of wine for the doorman.

The concierge probably felt that this young man, who looked cold and aloof, was suddenly showing him kindness, and was a little moved. He smiled gratefully at me. He lifted his glass, took a sip, and then another sip…

Sometimes, human friendship seems so simple, but I often fail to do so. I don’t know if it’s because I’m a child of destiny, but I always feel that the people I love deeply will eventually leave me, leaving me standing alone in an empty place, helplessly crying out, “I won’t let go.” This makes me very cautious.

In the end, it was true to the Master’s words. I can’t hold on to my feelings, and I can’t let go of them either. The same goes for strangers.

The master, who was chatting happily with the concierge, didn’t notice my emotions. I thought it was not good to think about these things at such a late hour, so I simply withdrew my thoughts, peeled the peanuts, sipped the wine little by little, and listened to the concierge’s excited talk.

“Who can say that 10 yuan is not expensive? But this is still a friendship price… Other officials go shopping, including officials, I don’t hide from you, it’s normal to triple the price.” The doorman said excitedly, but also a little proud that he could have a “friendship price.”

The master drank a glass of wine without saying a word, then threw a peanut in his mouth and chewed it slowly before saying, “Why are these people so xenophobic? I don’t remember there being a town like this before. This…”

Ah? There was no such town before? I was a little confused. Why did the master point the way to me here? However, I could only pretend to be unmoved and listen to them chat.

“Hey, how do you know? There really wasn’t a town here before. This place wasn’t even a village before, just a few scattered houses. Then one year…” The old man paused here, as if he had something to hide.

The master quickly poured a glass of wine for the old man and said, “It’s okay. To be honest, I also have a lot of connections with this place. Otherwise, how would I know so much about it?” Then, the master lowered his voice and said in a low voice, “I also know a lot of people on the mountain.”

“Ah, you know people on the mountain?” The old man’s eyes were full of doubt. He looked up and down at the master several times, and then said with some confusion, “Could it be that you are also a Miao?”

“No, that’s impossible. I’m a genuine Han Chinese, but… by some coincidence, I met people from the mountains.” The master said this sincerely. In fact, he wasn’t lying. This was just a speaking technique. It was the same as saying nothing at all.

But the concierge was excited, slamming the stool on which the wine bottles were placed, almost knocking them over. I quickly held them up, but he didn’t care, and whispered, “Hey, I really envy you. The people on the mountain are not simple. I don’t know how simple they are, but I’m sure they can do magical things. Like magic spells?

Ordinary people can’t tell the difference between Taoism and witchcraft, and there are some other techniques, which are collectively referred to as magic.

“Oh? Then I believe it too. There is nothing strange in this world… The older a person gets, the more they believe in these things. To put it bluntly, who hasn’t encountered a few strange things in their life? When they get old, they remember them and become superstitious.” The master skillfully deflected the conversation back to the topic at hand. After all, talking about these things in depth with an ordinary person is taboo in the real circle.

“That’s right… Anyway, let’s not talk about that. Let’s go back to what happened earlier. There really wasn’t a town here before… How long ago was it? I have to think. About ten years ago? Anyway, I’ve been working here for many years… The people in this town are also xenophobic, which is also a reason…” As he was talking, the old man gulped down the glass of wine in front of him in one go, and then placed the empty glass on the bench heavily, saying, “These people appeared overnight. To be precise, they came down from the mountains! I don’t know why they came down from the mountain… they just stayed here and built houses, and a town was formed.”

This… came down from the mountain overnight? I frowned, took a sip of the wine in my glass, and couldn’t help but worry about Qiangzi. But on second thought, the timing didn’t make sense. This town appeared ten years ago, which was a little earlier than the last time I saw Qiangzi. Qiangzi never mentioned this to me, so was it a secret?

Thinking about it, I let go of my frown and put down my wine glass.

The master also didn’t say anything, just drank his wine, while the old man continued to ramble on: “You said that all of a sudden, overnight, these people came down and started building a town here themselves. They did it in a few months. Don’t you care? Of course you have to care! But in this poor, mountainous, and watery place, there’s no way to get so many people to help, so all we can do is…”

He was talking about the origin of this so-called town government. If these Miao people really came down from the mountains, then they might not really take this so-called temporary government under their noses.

To say the least, this is indeed an interesting piece of news, as if there is a great secret hidden behind it. But I don’t know why Master asked about it.

As the old man talked, his tongue got a little big, and he talked about everything under the sun. We didn’t persuade him to drink anymore, but he said something else in a daze: “What do you think is so interesting about this town? In the past two months, a lot of people have come here, and they look very angry. They have made the people in the town more xenophobic. We don’t dare to interfere, and we don’t understand why. What’s going on?”

The old man couldn’t help but fall asleep on the chair. My master and I looked at each other. Who could it be? Could it be… No, it couldn’t be. Two months ago, my master and I were still at the Bamboo Hut. It doesn’t make sense!

Thinking of this, my master and I frowned at the same time!